Nippon Daisies

So, we bought these daisies, and planted them in the bed in the front yard.  And they grew and grew all summer, and crowded out the whole right corner of the bed, but never produced any flowers. I was getting a little exasperated with all of the vegetative growth. And then the buds formed.  And now we have a profusion of lovely yellow and white daisies in the front yard. Didn't read the directions.  Nippon daisies (Nipponantheum nipponicum Franch. ex Maxim Kitam) always bloom in the early Fall. [NOTE: I still have a lot to learn about cultivated plants].  

Billion Bug Highway

Wonderful to learn that the web of life extends into places that we never imagined. Humbling to think about the karmic implications of international air travel.  

Forbidden City (from the Archive)

[NOTE: I leave for China in ten days. This post from the archive helps set the stage for the upcoming adventure. Back to Beijing, then Guizhou and all things Miao]. 

Sprawling over 72 hectares in the middle of Beijing, China, the Forbidden City is the largest palace complex in the world.  This awe-inspiring collection of over 980 wooden structures from the Ming Dynasty was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987. It is easy to spend an entire day exploring the buildings and courtyards of the Forbidden City and fantasizing about the life and times of the Chinese Emperor.   It is not so easy to exit the complex at closing time on a Saturday afternoon (thx, Zhang).

Tempat Obat

Two Dayak medicine containers ("tempat obat") that we got in West Kalimantan (see Kalimantan Woodcarver, Illipe Nut, Field Crews) many years ago. The container on the left is carved out of bone and has a calendar for indicating when to take your medicine; the stopper is carved out of wood. The larger container on the right is bamboo with very ornate inscriptions.  Unclear what is on the heads of the little guys on the stoppers. Both are beautiful examples of ethnic art being incorporated into daily life. 

Where Are Those Transects?

Have started pulling data out of the field books (see Field Books) from the Truong Son Mountain rattan survey (see Which Rattan Is That). One of the first operations was to compile a table of the coordinates of each transect, i.e. "geo-reference" them, and then to plot them on a map so that I could see how the transects were arranged throughout each Nature Reserve.  I was a little worried that perhaps the crews had done all the transects right off the road.

As is shown in the image above, a screen grab from a Google Earth plot of the transects recorded in the Song Thanh Nature Reserve, this was decidedly not the case.  Look at the group of transects in the upper left of the image. The field crews hiked way out into the forest before starting to count rattans. Each purple symbol represents a 2,000 m² sample.   

Sweetcake Ensō

In Zen Buddhist painting, the ensō, or brushed ink circle, symbolizes a moment when the mind is completely unfettered and true reality is allowed to manifest itself.  There are a lot of different types of ensōs, e.g. mirror ensō, moon ensō, universe ensō, each type expressing a subtly different meaning. These calligraphic circles are profound but they are not abstract, and when enlightenment and the acts of daily life-"sipping tea and eating rice cakes"- are one, there is true Buddhism.  The sweetcake ensō expresses this realization.

A unique traveling exhibit of sweetcake ensōs, including works from traditional calligraphers as well as more contemporary renderings, will be inaugurated at the Empty Hand Zen Center on October 2 and 3.  One of the pieces from the exhibit, Life and Death by Zen Master Nonin Chowaney, is shown above. Additional information about the exhibit, as well as artwork and writings from prominent scholars and American Zen teachers can be found here. 

Bikes at the Basecamp

During the forest inventory work in the Tapajós-Arapiuns Extractive Reserve (see Tapajós-Arapiuns), the field crews from the village of Surucua rode bicycles to the base camp. Certainly sped everything up. [NOTE: They loaned me an old clunky one to use, but the brakes were so bad that I ended up walking most of the way].

Miao Still Life

A shot from the Miao village of Wudong in Guizhou, China. The careful woodwork on the windows, the orange of the drying corn, the weathered wood of the walls. Image has a nice autumn feel to it.

Tassajara Oatmeal Bread

Made some truly delicious oatmeal bread yesterday. Only took yeast, salt, dry milk, 7 cups of flour, 2 cups of rolled oats, 1/4 cup of honey, and a little bit of oil. Oh, and four hours of prep and cooking time. Was clear from the first bite of hot bread, however, that it was worth the effort. Go here for the recipe. Or go here for Ed Espe Brown's indispensable bread book. [NOTE: The tomatoes and the canteloupe shown in the background are from the garden (see Heirloom Tomatoes)].

Wireman

The wire sculpture shown above was photographed at the American Folk Art Museum in New York. The piece was found - along with approximately 1,500 more just like it - in garbage bags in an alley of an African-American neighborhood in Philadelphia. The artist, known simply as the Philadelphia Wireman, relied on discarded materials such as tape, newspaper, ribbon, glass, buttons, and scrap metal to produce the whimsical creations.